Uekibachi Koyoko
by yorushihe
Summary: Old Lady Potter died silently in her sleep. It was Halloween to the morbid amusement and sadness of those who knew of her story, though she passed on peacefully and in no pain, with a smile on her lips - only to wake up as Uekibachi Koyoko, a potters' daughter and someone with too much time in her hands.. GenFic, Fem!Harry, Major AU.


**Uekibachi Koyoko**

Old Lady Potter died silently in her sleep. It was Halloween to the morbid amusement and sadness of those who knew of her story, though she passed on peacefully and in no pain, with a smile on her lips since she's spent the afternoon playing with her great grandchildren.

_Jane Autumn Potter (1980 – 2150)_

A long, happy and healthy life of 170 years. Jane was content when she ascended, not really expecting to meet her parents who were already reincarnated, but she did greet a couple of old friends and family who were waiting for her for quite some time.

As interesting as watching over her descendants' mischief, Jane tired of peeking in on them after a decade when she was sure they were still plentiful and lively as ever and weren't so hung up about her death.

As strange as the idea of reincarnated sounded, her old spirit was starting to long for a new life, a new chance to grow and to form new bonds.

"How do we go about being reborn?" Jane asked Hermione, since Ron's been gone into another cycle of life for a couple of years now.

Hermione eyed her friend. "Ronald just faded one day Janey, one moment he was there the next he wasn't and I got the feeling he has finally chosen an after death…"

"Maybe next life he will be born into a rich family, with cold and distant parents and he will miss the family he had in the past" Draco Malfoy piped in with a smirk, interrupting the rest of Hermione's words. Both spirits glared at him but in the end, both silently agreed since the idea of being reincarnated was living through something that would help them learn lessons.

"And I wish your next life to be filled with festive relatives and financial struggle and no politics what so ever" Hermione huffed, though by the light shining in Draco's eyes, that was something he hoped to experience someday.

Then, when none of them heard a word from Jane, both turned to where she was previously sitting and found nothing. "Oh…" Draco breathed out. "I guess Potter beat me there, after all"

**XxxXxxX**

Uekibachi Koyoko was an unusual child. Oh, her parents loved her all the same, she was a very lovely and well behaved little girl – but they learned early on how utterly strange their daughter could be.

Everyday their little Koyoko would hug and kiss them and thank them for being her parents as if she feared they would disappear one day – it took nearly five years to disabuse her of this habit and even then she insisted on hugging them every day and tell them how much she loves them.

She was smart, though she had trouble in school at first since she had difficulty grasping on the written language – once she got handle on all her symbols and kanji, she became indomitable in her thirst for knowledge.

And then, when she was six and her father thought to offer if she wanted to go to the Ninja Academy, she right out refused saying she'd rather be _normal_ and _not risk her life_ unless absolutely necessary.

A year later, it really became necessary when the war finally broke out officially and their village (a military oriented village) requested that all sufficiently able bodied children be placed into the academy – if they were dropped out throughout the program, they were allowed to return to their civilian families, but if they were found to have _talent_, then they were sucked into their village ninja corps without even realizing.

Koyoko _did_ realize though, but by then she really didn't have much of a choice since her perfect grades and grown up behavior was thus analyzed by the Academy and she was chosen as a prospect – they would _know_ she was faking stupidity should she do it simply to get out of the program, so Koyoko decided to apply herself to training since if she was being forced anyway, she'd be a darn good kunoichi and protect her family from the war.

A genius… a prodigy… that's what she unfortunately became known as even if Koyoko was as lazy as a Nara and as headstrong as an Uchiha.

The instructors dealing with her learned soon enough that no one, _no one_, could brow beat Uekibachi Koyoko in the stubborn department save perhaps her family (her parents, a handful of uncles and another handful of cousins).

So it was with a heavy sigh of relief that two years after being dragged into the Academy she was being kicked out with an official kunoichi license and a cool headband.

And so began Uekibachi Koyoko's adventures through the ninja world.

That ended in two days since exactly two days later the war against Iwa was being won singlehandedly by their newest Hokage.

She was nine years old and a Gennin graduate when she purposely failed the final evaluation and was sadly (happily) forced to return to the Academy with her two short-term teammates (they chose to go to the gennin corps anyway, they really wanted a shinobi career, while Koyoko decided to drop everything as she wanted from the beginning and work in her mother's Pottery shop and atelier…)

Well… with a name like Flower Pot Autumn Flower, the bitterly reincarnated Jane Autumn Potter had reason to protest.

**XxxXxxX**

As someone who luckily lived past her hundreds and honestly did _everything_ in life – including a list of debauchery only a hundred years old person still in spring condition could attest to _want_ to do and could actually _do_ it without being condemned because come on, she is an eccentric old lady and just wants another taste of youth by buying that motorcycle and enchanting it to fly to go racing against Airplanes.

Aside from others not as tame activities.

For someone who broke into a bank and stole out riding a dragon, Jane Autumn Potter _had_ the right to be all eccentric she wanted to.

Plus, she was a blast in her grandchildren's eyes even if Hermione never let her within a mile close to one of her own children without proper supervision, Ron was enough as it was – when they paired up then you could count on at least one visit from the police _and_ an Auror or two (who usually ended joining them in the first place because they had to be Jane's fans)

Then came the weird hobbies – that spoke for itself.

Though Jane taking up a hobby ended up being a good thing since she had a _lot _of time on her hands when her kids and grandkids were all grown up and there was no one lining up for her to babysit. She took to rune crafting and enchanting, first little trinkets sent as Christmas presents then major things like her own enchanted weapon collection and the sentient house appliances she adopted as pets.

The years passed by and Jane got older, her family larger and then one Halloween day… she kicked the bucket.

Spending time in the afterlife with a couple of her friends was worth it – getting reincarnated was interesting – remembering her past life _was not_.

Jane had a vague sense it had to do with the fact she was a human Horcrux once… the abomination was such that it had to have messed up her own soul in the process, maybe even a tiny spec of it going to Voldemort in a travesty of equivalent exchange. Her soul was irreparably chipped thanks to Tom's parasitic piece.

Uekibachi Koyoko remembered her life as Jane Autumn Potter thanks to that little chip. Though an old lady in mind and having realized all her life's dream already, so there was nothing in particular she wanted to do, life as Koyoko would have been boring if for one tiny bit of detail.

She's been reincarnated into _another World._

At the start of the XXII century, magi-science could prove the existence of an infinite numbers of parallel Worlds.

After the original break through in which a Monk offered a memory of the time he spent in another Universe during an extra-body experience and the magi-scientists found a way to induce such experiences in certain people who had the right mental preparation for it.

So the idea of multiple Worlds out there wasn't really that surprising, much less the number of souls that existed out there – they must come from somewhere at their creation and also must go to somewhere when they reincarnate. That was supposedly ruled by Karma, or something like it.

Being born again wasn't as bad as one would imagine when she has spent over 150 years Apparating – basically punching through the fabric of reality in a burst of magic to get from point A to B in a microscopic wormhole.

When she was to be born, Jane was squeezed painfully and then cruelly pushed out the warm comforting place she suddenly found herself in, into the waiting arms of a giant of a person who smelled strongly of hospital, and then dried, measured, weighted and then deposited back on her mother's chest where she had to be pushed toward a nipple so she could feed.

Baby instincts? No baby instincts if her brain was fully cognitive – and being an old soul accommodating inside a new body, the body had to change so she could fit, her new brain had to grow and develop into something resembling her old Witch brain, a brain that could process at least 30% of its capabilities (Magicals had higher brain capabilities so they could handle the extra power running through them).

Jane Autumn Potter was named Koyoko – Autumn Flower Child, and her mother was a potter. The universe was laughing at her expense, she just knew.

The first two years of her new life were spent getting her bearings back. By observing her parents(!) and following through their expectations of what baby should be like, she used the opportunity to learn the language and gain necessary information.

As soon as she made it known to her new parents that she could speak, she was sure to let them know just how much they meant for her.

Those two people who were responsible for her very life, and that she never truly had the chance to meet in her past incarnation. She loved the feeling of her mother's arms when they hugged, of how small and protected her father made her feel and that made her appreciation sky rock, because while she understood the love a parent had for their child, she never understood what was like to love someone as _the child_.

Her parents were very thankful (and worried) to have _her_ as their daughter. She never cried, complained or threw tantrums. She did her chores, she ate the vegetables and she said she loved them everyday.

All in all, her new childhood could be considered a vacation in the small scheme of things.

When she finally was the right age to go to school, she went with a tired sort of resignation, as if it was another chore. Though she was certain there was not a lot she could learn from the school – aside from history and grammar for her new language with which she struggled for a bit since it was a whole new system that she had to get used to.

English was so much simpler! And the subsequent languages she's picked up along the road were never mastered to the extent where she could write in them fluently.

Then came the time in the life of every child who lived in a ninja village when the parents _had_ to ask the dread question.

"Koyo-chan… You're six now, do you want to be a ninja like Ginji-kun and Fukane-chan?" The aforementioned children being her 'playmates'. Her father, with his neat brown hair and kind tanned face was looking at her with a certain trepidation in his eyes. There was a war going on, he knew, she knew, everyone knew, and there was a chance that she'd be caught up in it if she chose to follow the path of ninja.

It wasn't really a hard question. "No, daddy. I want to be a potter just like mom and take care of the shop just like you" Good bye hectic, hero life, hello quiet, unnoticed _civilian _life.

"Are you sure sweetie? If you want to be a ninja, your mummy and I will support your decision"

"I'm sure… I don't want to be a ninja daddy" All she wanted was to be a normal little girl.

But then again, when is it that _Jane_ ever got what she _wanted_?

A year later the war seemed to reach a sledge, because the admittance to the Academy became necessary and all pre-schools were converted into ninja training grounds. Including Uekibachi Koyoko's.

The civilian school teacher was given a dispense and they introduced an instructor who'd guide them through a crash course in the ninja arts since her class was already over a year late in their perceived ninja education. The students were put through a physical evaluation, and those who were found to have potential, were taken and automatically put in the Academy.

Consequentially, a few couldn't keep up with the training and studying and were excused from the program – Koyoko could have used that to get out of the program, but during her earlier school days, she's showed too much of her intelligence and was already pegged as a genius. If she suddenly dropped her scores for no good reason (and she'd be under surveillance) then she could be taken in by treason charges.

"I'm really sorry Koyo-chan… There is nothing mummy and daddy can do" Her mother's clear grey eyes bore down on Koyoko. "We know you didn't want to be a ninja, but maybe you will have fun!"

"I know mummy, I'm upset about this, but if it's to protect my family from this stupid war, then I'm going to do my best" Grin, bear with it, bide her time until she could find a validate reason to not be suckered into being martyrized again.

Or become a foot-soldier.

That would actually be _worse_.

When one took a centenary and a half old Witch who has had time to master a _lot_ of defense methods simply because her back was one big, exaggerated target and added in the obstinacy of the Potters, with Lily Evans' temper, then multiplied by the bullheadedness that being mentally older than anyone currently alive in this World brought.

Plus the fact that she was _Jane Autumn Potter_ and mixed with a paranoid, militaristic society trying to teach said Jane into being an assassin and well…

"Uekibachi Koyoko!" _Poof._

Ah… that was the sound of the color changing rune arrays she's thoughtfully stitched into her _Chunnin_ teacher's flak jacket activating and turning it the most garish shade of pink _ever_.

Just because she didn't have magic this time around, didn't mean she couldn't use _chakra_ instead, and to her delighted amusement, she could use it to activate a number of rituals, runes and even use it _like_ magic, except she couldn't really transfigure anything, and it tended to dissipate the farther from her body her spells went.

Her latest project was Apparition, but Koyoko was leery about really testing it without proper calculations.

And she used this power she had very wisely… to prank the heck out of anyone who tried to bully, belittle or manipulate her.

Two years in the Academy, because she rushed through the program like a good little prodigy – Who'd want to spend more time in school than they absolutely _had to_? And to crown the best cosmic joke _ever,_ not even two days after she received her forehead protector, the war was over when the new Hokage, Namikaze Minato razed the enemies' forces to the ground.

Purposely failing the final (and secret) exams was ridiculously easy, when everyone was caught in a post-war _mood_ that couldn't be described with precision… a mixture of Solemn, Grief, Happiness and Relief that it was all over.

And instead of being booted to the Gennin corps like her two teammates, Koyoko handed back her ninja license and the headband, finally retiring after an extenuating career of two days.

**XxxXxxX**

Learning pottery was a nice reprieve actually. The inner Jane inside Koyoko was finally feeling validated for her surname, and to be honest, Koyoko was _good_ at working with clay. A year and the retired Gennin was having the time of her life creating pots, jars, plates and cups alongside her parents.

"How come your pots never chip or break?" Her mother asked once, and Koyoko, not willing to admit to the fancy usage of runes and spells to make perfect pottery simply smiled innocently.

"I don't know mummy, I must have been born to do this!"

"Can't you teach your old mother some new young people tricks?" At this, Koyoko snorted up a half strangled giggle. Her mother grinned unrepentantly and continued to plead with her eyes, knowing enough about her daughter to catch a lie when they came.

Thinking a little about to cons and pros, Koyoko decided that passing down a few durability runes and rituals to her mum wouldn't be so bad, even better because their shop's reputation (already quite good) would go up a lot more if their merchandise was of perfect quality.

"Alright mummy, but you have to promise not to share with anyone save daddy" Koyoko said, extending solemnly a pinky so her mum could swear properly.

Her mother's pinky entwined with her much smaller one. "I promise I won't tell anyone save daddy"

"Then look over here mummy" The reincarnated witch procured one of her finished pots, a fist sized thing she used as a flower vase – a little Lindee Rose cheerfully blooming inside. "See these tiny scratches? They are runes, these ones are for protection against breaking and chipping and this one was to ensure fire didn't hurt it when I cooked it"

Not really understanding the scribbles, Uekibachi Ranka squinted until she could make sense. "Runes you say? How interesting! Is this one of those ninja secrets you're not supposed to share with us?" To test the runes, her mom scratched the vase with her nails trying in vain to chip it

"You could say that…" And wasn't that the perfect excuse to her extra knowledge?

"Won't you get in trouble?" Ranka asked worriedly, handing the vase back to her daughter.

"Not really, I can tell you since you've promised not to tell anyone else!"

Koyoko then spent the afternoon scribing a list of Runes so her mother could learn and practice them.

By the same time next week, all pottery produced by the Uekibachi shop was magically enhanced, to the jealousy of their competitors who couldn't for the life of them, figure out why a Uekibachi pot never broke, stained or chipped.

**XxxXxxX**

Everyone and their mothers knew how much the Uekibachi child was a daddy and mommy little girl. Koyoko behaved like a perfect, sweet angel in her adored parent's presence out of it… though she was seen playing a few pranks around the shopping district, the shopkeepers saw her as harmless.

In their street, all neighbors knew how much trouble she gave the Academy simply because she never wanted to be a ninja like the rest of the children, so when she was ten years old and the Yondaime Hokage's face was almost completely carved in their precious mountain – a year after the war's official ending, and Koyoko had quite the reputation.

As a potter and as the one with the shortest ninja life in their village. Only a two days career and she was retired.

Possibly unknown to her and also known to everyone else, Koyoko had a sort of epic reputation for highest number of pranks pulled on the instructors while keeping her grades above perfect and graduating in two years in the Academy – only one Hatake Kakashi occupied the first place when he graduated in only _one_ year.

So when one beautiful sunny day when she was working on delivering a few custom set items to one of the largest clan districts in Konoha, it was of no surprise that she was recognized by _someone_.

"Did you really explode all toilet seats at the same time without any bomb?" A startling voice came from behind Koyoko, who had just been admitted inside the Uchiha district by the constipated looking guard. She was currently carrying several ryo's worth of pottery neatly put inside a box and wrapped with newspaper so they would clink against each other.

Luckily she didn't jump. She's felt him coming from a mile away by the excited feel of his chakra bumping against her senses. "That they could _find… _Do they still have the pictures?" Koyoko smiled brightly in remembrance to what must have been the greatest prank _ever_. They'd never find traces of _any_ explosive or link _anything_ to her.

Aside from the greatly exaggerated rumors that she was the one who did it… Pfff.

"Pinned to the news board, no teacher can take it off and the board won't be unstuck either" The clearly Uchiha boy relayed with a glowing grin. "Man, you're Uekibachi Koyoko! Nice to meet you, I'm Uchiha Shisui"

Koyoko nodded, still smiling. The box of priceless pottery she was supposed to deliver was becoming quite a dead weight in her arms, so she'd dispense pleasantries with the fan and- Wait… Shisui had the glint in his eyes that spoke of star struck fascination induced by fan… boyism.

"How did you know who I was?" She feigned aloofness but her insides have dropped to rest at her feet in a pool of horror. She's done _everything_ to be under the radar!

Or maybe not _everything_, but you know, _everything_.

Looking incredibly pleased with himself at being the first one to apparently let her know the 'good' news, the Uchiha kid started. "I was two years before you, you were my senpai. Takiharu Ginji let everyone know how much you didn't want to be a ninja. At first, we thought it was unfair since you seemed to be at the _top_ of every class – but then you started to play pranks and everyone wanted to be your friend, but you were, you know, so frightening!"

Koyoko the untouchable. If she counted all her years alive she'd be 180 right now. So excuse if she didn't have the patience to deal with _whining brats_.

Shisui continued obliviously. "… And then you graduated with the best marks in the history of the Academy and we all thought you'd be really awesome as a ninja, you should have heard what my family was saying! _That Uekibachi girl has so much potential, why can't you apply yourself more like her, Shisui?_ And all I could was that they didn't really know what they were asking because then, the next day you'd somehow glue all your classroom's tables to the ceiling and postpone the team calling until they could take everything down."

Like she did the notice board and the toiled incident picture. Liberate usage of sticking charms.

That one was a homage to the Marauders, specially Sirius who described the prank to her in details once she got passed the whole 'mass murderer convict after her blood' thing and accepted the 'only slightly insane and ridiculously vindictive godfather' part.

And this kid only seemed like what, seven? "… When you get your teammates and is an official team, the war ends and you retire after two days of service… That's a new record!"

"Aren't you supposed to be at the Academy…?" It slipped before she could clamp her mouth shut. Shisui grinned.

"Today is Saturday!" Oh… right. Saturday. She knew that.

"Well, Saturday or not, I have a delivery to make so I can't keep dawdling anymore" She pointed out with only marginally rose tainted cheeks.

"Who is it you're delivering to? I might be able to help since I kind of live here" Koyoko eyed the kid. He seemed harmless enough.

She nodded again. "Uchiha Noragami-san"

"Right this way!" Shisui whiskered away and Koyoko was forced to follow, not managing to hide the true smile that blossomed on her face.

**XxxXxxX**

They say that you mentally degrade with age. Koyoko as _Jane_ could attest to _that_ at least. From a respected elder she was reduced to a brat sized _brat_ that wasn't respected even painted golden by the Rikudou-sennin himself.

Her mind was very, very sharp however.

So her new blooming friendship with an Academy student 3 years her junior and a _real_ brat aside, Koyoko still had _eyes._

And she was also a teller that fateful day in which the Universe must have been laughing at her.

"Good morning, welcome to Uekibachi pottery. My name is Koyoko, how may I help you?" Polite smile, cutesy face, blushing cheeks and cherubic aura. No client could resist her cuteness when she turned up the charm.

The client was a red haired woman. A slightly pregnant red haired woman. "Hi! I'm Uzumaki Kushina 'ttebane, I was hoping you'd have a couple of cups and plates. I'm kind of adapting the apartment for the baby and a new kitchen is in order"

Koyoko noted down the woman's order, helping her select patterns and colors in her pottery and china.

"It will be 47k ryo for the whole sets Uzumaki-san" Uzumaki Kushina paid for the quality product she chose and left the store after making sure she knew the date her order would be ready. "_MUMMY! _We got a new client!" Koyoko hollered out to her mother who was working in the atelier at the back of their store.

"That's nice sweetheart! Just let me finish etching this batch's runes and then we can start on that new order together!"

A couple of weeks later, Koyoko was minding the store again while her dad ran errands and her mum cooked pots.

Someone entered the shop. Koyoko looked up.

Now… usually the common, civilian folk didn't have much contact with the Hokage. He'd only ever appear to the masses during public events and even then he was always up in his palanquin and no one could ever take a good glimpse at him. Oh, they knew he was blond and blue eyed, and he was quite handsome according to the ladies' gossip.

But if you weren't a _ninja_ then you'd have no chance at staring at him directly.

Pictures could do him _no _justice.

Koyoko blinked. Blinked again. Then once more to make sure that no, the Hokage – hero of the Third Great Shinobi War- was _not_ standing awkwardly in the middle of her family' shop staring at all the delicate looking china and pots with an awed light in his eyes.

Clearing her throat, Koyoko dished out the standard greetings – Hokage or not, he was a paying client and those were more important than gossip. "Good morning, welcome to Uekibachi pottery. My name is Koyoko, how may I help you?"

The blonde man turned back to her with a dazzlingly simple smile that made the grandma in Jane want to pinch his cheeks and coo at his handsomeness. "I'm here to pick up something my friend has ordered"

Not hiding her curiosity, Koyoko asked. "What is your order's number?" Maybe he moved around using that thundergod jutsu of his? It made sense in a convoluted sort of way.

"Oh, I have the paper right here!" Koyoko received the scrap of paper on which was scribbled a certain number pertaining to a certain order and immediately years upon years of being insatiably curious and having the need to butt in things that were none of her business helped Detective Jane/Koyoko solve the case.

"Case solved…" She muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing nothing… MUMMY! Where is Kushina-san's china?!" The reincarnated Witch didn't claim to be mature.

No communication method was more efficient than the good old holler. The disguised Hokage startled slightly, caught off guard for a slip of a second when he wasn't expecting the sudden sound.

For a moment, Koyoko caught herself admiring the man's masks… there was the Hokage one, when he was the austere and powerful leader of their military village. Then, there was the war hero one, when he wore that, he was a professional assassin and didn't have time or need for feelings…

And finally, there was the one in front of her… of a harried man who was running errands for his red headed pregnant woman named Uzumaki Kushina.

"They're under the counter sweetie!" Her mother hollered back in answer, breaking Koyoko out of her musings. The blonde now looked amused at their antics, and the ten years old offered him a bright smile to match his hair.

"Hold on a second." There, hiding behind a few other boxes was the one labeled with Uzumaki Kushina's name and her order number. "Here, a Tea Set, custom Cutlery Set, Special Edition Whirlpool vases and a custom Decorative Plate" All neatly arranged in a cardboard box and covered in protection runes. "It's already paid for… I'd have delivered it but Uzumaki-san said she'd come pick it up"

"Thank you" Minato said, returning the smile. "She'd have come to pick this up herself, but she's well…"

Pregnant and hormonal and almost at her due date.

This gave Koyoko an idea. Sucking up to the Hokage when she gave absolutely _no _indication of having recognized him might earn her brown points in the long run.

"Hold on!" The blonde paused at the door, looking back at her with a quizzing tilt to his head that was simply adorable to granny Jane. "Here, can you take this charm to Uzumaki-san? It's a little charm to protect women" Koyoko fished around under the counter until she found a large bowl filled with little trinkets and charms until she came up with one.

_Special_ trinkets and charms that she and her mum reserved the right to sell or give to whomever they wanted to.

Minato accepted the charm she's chosen. "It's a frog…" He cleverly observed, waves of amusement drifting out of him.

"It's something called Muirakittan(_Muiraquitã_). In a very faraway place, they're used as symbol of protection by women to ensure health and plenty of children… Usually they're made of stone or wood, and though this one is made of clay, it works the same way"

She's made the necessary rituals and etched a lot of runes to make sure of that.

"I'm sure she's going to appreciate it" The blonde' smile became warmer as thoughts of his girlfriend and unborn baby filled his mind.

"Hey… if you want, you can take a look at our other charms. I hear they work wonders" Best saleswoman smile in place. "And I will even give you a discount"

Minato ended up picking a Hamusa (_Hamsá_) and a little sun shield that could be tied into a cord as used as a necklace. He secured both around his neck and Koyoko didn't really charge him for it.

A little voice in the back of her head that sounded a lot like Moody screamed irritatingly.

_Constant Alert!_

**XxxXxxX**

The masked man came one night, the night Uzumaki Kushina was to birth her first son – the rest is history… but for a single different detail.

"Hokage-sama has taken the baby" An ANBU who arrived at the gory place a couple of miles away from Konoha noted grimly.

The Uzumaki woman's body lay on the ground, for all states and purposes she was dead since for what the gossip mill in the shinobi's lounges had in good word that their blonde leader and the red headed Uzumaki were lovers – and Namikaze Minato would _not_ have left her if he knew she was alive to suffer silently and lonely.

Another ANBU, a female, approached the fallen kunoichi's body and more tenderly than was usual, pressed her fingers against the red head's neck.

No pulse.

A little frog shaped charm that lay inside one of Kushina's pockets shuddered, and slowly, a crack formed along its length as unnoticed amount of energy was released.

The ANBU jerked, surprised. There. She could feel it. Fluttering shyly like a butterfly's wings was a heartbeat. "I got a pulse! She's alive! Call for a medic, I will try to keep her stable!"

**XxxXxxX**

What would have happened if the Sandaime Hokage, who above all else loved his village more than his own life, found out about Minato's plan _before_ it was too late to do anything?

He's been holding fort inside the Hokage tower as the current Fire shadow faced the terrorizing Fox. What happened to Kushina? Was she alright? Sarutobi Hiruzen paced, not knowing what would happen and just _how_ Minato was planning to stop the beast before their already crippled forced (from the war) was obliterated by the Bijuu.

A glint caught his eyes. Nervous energy made him curious, so Hiruzen approached the source of the glint to take a closer look. A little golden sun. It was in the right place and position to catch a shaft of light that came from the large windows. Sun Charm aside, what really interested the elderly man was what lay _under_ the charm.

Seals arrays and a few scribbles about the Uzumaki's Mask Temple close to Konoha.

"Minato… what are you doing?" Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke out loud, rolling the scrolls back and stuffing them inside his robes. He had a foolish youth to stop and a Fox to seal.

On another part of the village.

When the emergency alarm sounded, all Shinobi in active duty should report back to a commander. Koyoko was retired, her headband returned, but she couldn't, for the life of her ignore the terrified screams and the fear permeating the air.

"Mummy, daddy, we have to help!" Ranka and Torimaru, along with the rest of their family, were huddled together inside the big shelter right under the Hokage monument. All around them were gennins and a few chunnins keeping order.

"How can we?" Her dad asked, shifting closer so he could embrace her mother.

Koyoko grinned, holding up her fingers. "Remember all the tricks I taught you? Why don't we paint the walls a bit?"

**XxxXxxX**

Exactly a week after the funeral service for the Third Hokage, when everyone paid their respect and mourned the great and wise leader that guided them through two wars and then, sacrificed himself so the Beast that was attacking their village could be safely done away with.

Konoha was slowly being rebuilt. Again.

And as it was going under repairs and renovations, people were starting to drift more toward the crafts side of the shopping district so they could renew their cutlery, furniture and home decorations – as Spartan as most shinobi tended to be, the civilian side of things was quite loud and colorful.

So Uekibachi pottery shop was seeing quite the fair share of customers once everyone had time enough to grieve for the Third, and also celebrate the birth of their current Hokage's baby – who knew he was married?!

It was a very well thought out move. Feed the people good news to raise morale while the Yondaime conducted a deep and throughout investigation with the full backing of the Uchiha clan who was being silently blamed by the attack since day one.

It didn't take too long for the first scandal to be muffled, contained and crushed into tiny little particles that became amusing bar talks by the time the T&amp;I finished with it.

With baby Naruto as a peace banner and Kushina as the Yondaime's "illicit" affair, you could count on any surging disagreement with certain people being snuffled by the flames and enthusiasm of gossipers.

Uekibachi Torimaru, Koyoko's father was a well known man in their community, and from time to time he inhabited the local bars – shinobi or not it didn't make a difference when what the men only wanted was to get hammered and have a good time making lewd jokes and betting on the pool table. It was not a surprise that he picked up quickly on the ninja side of the gossip mill.

"They say counselor Danzou was caught with his fingers in the cookie jar – the boys say he's being advised to retire silently before it all blows up in his face – and when Hokage-sama didn't bend his way, he started singing names" The man whispered excitedly to his wife, who drank up the gossip with a perfected scandalized face.

Her eyes were glittering when she replied. "Who, who?"

"Orochimaru-sama… Uchiha _Madara_…"

"Oh my!" Ranka sucked in a breath, blinked, then shook her head in a disappointed manner only mothers could portray and get away with not looking silly. "So counselor Danzou was brought in… that's worse than Mariko-san's husband running away with a Kiri merchant!"

"What? Sasasuka Banjou ran away with whom?!"

Koyoko sat on the other side of the atelier sculpting a plate set with an amused glint in her eyes. Her parents were worse than Mrs. Weasley on a good day when they wanted to… _illicitly share information. _Most importantly.

Because Namikaze Minato was _not_ in any way emotionally invested in the corrupted members of his council, he could boot them without a guilty consciousness and even look badass doing so.

Something the Sandaime wasn't able to do – or _see_.

Pulled into old memories of fighting numerous battles… of the politics kind… Koyoko could understand where everything was coming from. As Jane, she had her fair share of court time defending her position or her friends. She and Hermione had to declare a cold war on the MoM so they could lift Werewolves restrictions!

Just because they turned furry once a month, didn't mean they aren't deserving of having rights as living, sentient beings! Not even getting started on Hermione campaign on House Elves rights… though she won that one, all she managed was getting Elves more fairly treated, with a clause that when an Elf wanted to change families, it could.

Back to her current reality however… if her father's _illicit share of information_ was to be believed, than Minato was doing a great job flushing his government and singling out spies and even opposition in the form of Danzou and Orochimaru – the two now cozily installed inside cells in the T&amp;I dungeons.

"Koyo-chan, can you mind the shop? It's almost time we open" Her mother's voice brought Koyoko out of her thoughts. "I'm staying back here and starting on a few durability rituals, your daddy already has his chisel and is ready to etch runes away… and we do have a large stack to cook…" With a contemplative frown, the reincarnated Witch nodded to her mother then looked down at the work she did absently and grinned outright.

A homage to her old life in the form of Hogwarts' shield. Maybe she could start a set, right a small booklet with some back information and sell them as part of a _mythical _collection or something.

"Alright mummy" Koyoko remembered to say, staring as her mother and father blatantly flirt in front of her. Hopefully she'd get a brother or sister before her mom was too old to bear children… It was something she always wanted as Jane that she could never have with Duddley, as much as she'd wished it sometimes.

That was what, a life time ago?

Opening the shop was simple enough, so Koyoko busied herself by waving a hand over the displayed pieces of pottery to rid them of the dirt. Though using ranged spells was near impossible, the witch has gotten the handle on what powers she _could_ use – and if she put her mind into it, she could use the ranged spells in close range. Like the cleaning charm.

God send, that.

Right as she was making a final turn through the shop to see every speck of dust banished into obliviousness, a pair of steps came inside. Raising her eyes, Koyoko had to use every drop of self-control to hold back the wince that wanted wrack her spine.

"Good morning, welcome back to Uekibachi pottery" She greeted the returning clients with a burning smile. Just because she could make an educated (and very accurate) guess as to what they were in her shop for, didn't mean she was indescribably happy they weren't dead.

Word got around that when the ANBU reached Uzumaki Kushina, her heart had already stopped and she was clinically dead for a few minutes before being rescued. She survived by an inch of life that could be described as a miracle itself – according to the ANBU report, her heart suddenly started to beat when a _woman's_ fingers touched her neck.

Kushina smiled back. Her red hair was shorter, her skin was glowing though, thanks to the baby strapped to her chest like a little cute chimp. "Do you know, after I was brought out of the hospital and had my Naru-chan back, they gave me back the clothes I had with me – inside a pocket was this little trinket." A small green frog. Broken in half since its powers were drained out of it in a single burst "There are traces of chakra inside… somehow, when I…"

Minato put a hand on her shoulders, looking troubled himself. Cue sinking stomach. She was going to be carted off to T&amp;I where she'd be tortured for information and-

"Thank you"

… "Eh?" Koyoko's brain short-circuited. When she made the Hokage buy the charms, she didn't think they would be _that_ useful. Time to play dumb. "What?"

Giving her a _look_ from under his fringe, the blonde man reached inside his pocket and retrieved the two amphibian parts. "The medics say Kushina's heart was _blasted _by a wave of foreign chakra, it was enough to re-start it and it saved her life… The charm was only activated when a _female_ touched her skin, since I tried and… And I remember how you gave _this_ to me, and the explanations"

At their pointed look, Koyoko awkwardly pulled the basket where she kept the charms. The basket was dwindling seeing as she hadn't been able to make some in a while. Maybe she'd catch her mum so the two could make them together.

Two eager pair of eyes found themselves trailed on the basket and its treasures. There were a couple more of Muirakitans frogs(_Muiraquitã_), along with a small collection of good luck charms from all over her old world – from the Hamsá to a collection of Eyes (Greek eye, Horus' Eye and Rah's eye). All of them etched to the brink with protective runes specific to their shapes.

Like the Sun Shield dripped in luck. Or the Eyes of Wisdom protecting against Jealousy.

"The frog… it's from a very far away land… It is given to female warriors for protection and health, can also be a femininity symbol since it also protects mothers and represents fertility in a way" Koyoko explained from memory. "I happy it did its job for Uzumaki-san" The reincarnated witch kept smiling.

"That's… interesting… but how do they work? There _charms_ have chakra imbued in them, and I can feel some sort of _seal_ now that I'm touching them" Kushina asked, fingering another representative of her old frog shaped charm.

Caught.

"Um… I've graduated from the Academy, so I picked up a trick or two and we use them to make our ceramic more durable" The young potter explained, half hoping the couple wouldn't try to dig deeper.

Apparently, her hopes weren't to be answered…

Though _that_ picked at Minato's interest, it wasn't quite enough "No mere seal can have the effect of these charms" The red head called out on her attempt at misdirection. Underneath the Underneath was the shinobi motto for a reason – Koyoko was _not _underestimating ever again. "It is impossible to create this complexity level effect without at least a _visual _representation of the seal used"

Just paint over the clay to hide the minuscule etchings. And good luck rituals.

"Can we just say it's a family secret?" Koyoko pleaded. Of course she knew how ninja generally treaded on '_Clan Secrets' _grounds, so there was at least _that _to fall back on in the case someone caught up on her free usage of Witchcraft instead of fuinjutsu. Was runes even considered Fuinjutsu? She didn't use it to _seal_ anything per _see_.

Visually crestfallen in a manner of moments, Kushina tried the puppy dog eyes and even Minato contributed with the silent pleading. Nerds, Seals nerds the both of them. Koyoko didn't budge, so Kushina sighed. "Alright, I can accept that… however, I will be wanting to buy a couple more of these things"

Koyoko rung her up.

Not a day later, the Uekibachi shop received a high cost order from the Hokage tower. Minato wanted at least a hundred "good luck" charms to start with, all frog shaped.

For some reason.

**XxxXxxX**

Idling in the local park to pass the time while the pottery cooked, Koyoko swung by herself. The only ten years old kid that was not going to the Academy, Apprenticed or going to the basic School. At the very least, it appeared so since she was on her lonesome amongst the toddlers who were jumping around the toys.

"Look, its Koyoko!" A familiar voice called out. Sighing, the reincarnated witch turned her head just enough to peep Shisui coming closer, followed by a smaller child who could only be his relative. "Say hi to our Senpai, Itachi-kun"

The adorable little kid's eyes drifted toward Koyoko and she couldn't help but be reminded of her own eyes, when she stared at mirrors just after Voldemort… Empty, concealing… lost. It seemed little Itachi bore witness to some unsavory things with the haunted half-moon circles under his eyes were any indication.

"Hello" Shisui's relative mumbled, quiet.

"Koyoko, this is my cousin, Itachi. He just started the Academy… we were on our way home anyway, the teachers let us out earlier today because we've had a test" Shisui introduced, then turned to his cousin. "Itachi-kun, this is Uekibachi Koyoko… she graduated at Eight after only two years! And her pranks were awesome"

So they also were two idling boys? Ex-Jane got an idea. She'd have to work a bit to get rid of the veteran's look from Itachi, but if she could manage to get that kid to smile a bit it would be worth it. In a way, she wished someone had been there for her and her friends when they needed the understanding shoulder to lean on.

All the 'adults' ever did was shelter them or ignore they were children altogether.

"Say… you two have time?"

Both boys nodded. "We need to be home for dinner, though" Shisui stated. Koyoko could work with that.

"Then would you like to come with me and learn how to mold clay?"

She just won two little minions.

She had to formally apologize to the Uchiha main family though. Itachi wanted to give up being a ninja and follow through her example and become a potter. Her legend grew even more that day.

They ended reaching a compromise.

**XxxXxxX**

Life kept going in the village. They finally ended the reconstruction work and their Konoha was brighter than ever. Baby Naruto was hailed as a hero – he was the son of their precious Hokage and also jailor to the Monstrous Fox. Every October Tenth since then was celebrated with large festivities in memory of their fallen Sandaime and the new life his sacrifice allowed.

Twelve years later hadn't seen much change in Koyoko. She was twenty two, still single and manning the shop mostly by herself – her parents finally got around to producing a sibling. The brat was seven and a handful. It seemed Koyoko spoiled her parents for being such a well-mannered child because little Tamoko was a hellion and a half.

Thankfully Shisui outgrew the hero-worship he had for her when he became the kick-ass ninja he wanted to. Itachi also had to get over the silly crush he had because in _no way_ she was entertaining thoughts of romance with a man younger than thirty. She was mentally two hundred! Calling her a cougar would have been kind!

The Uekibachi clan wasn't the only one to enlarge in the decade past. Naruto gained a pair of little brothers – red haired, blue eyed _twins_. Menma and Hiruzen… or as the pair of ten years old preferred, _Hiru_ma and Men_zen_… After being washed by nostalgia, Koyoko didn't waste time – she wanted to help guide those kids (along with Naruto and Sasuke – Itachi's little brother) into being a next generation Marauder.

The name stuck. Like they did. They couldn't be unstuck and once more she had to send a formal apology to the Uchiha family _and_ to the Hokage.

Thankfully, the "masked man" that was responsible for the attack on Konoha that fateful night was caught a couple of years ago when he tried to infiltrate a severely protected (by Uzumaki' seals) and contact a long gone Danzo. It took a heck of a while to capture him, but in the end Jiraya, Minato and Kushina managed to come up with a seal able to block his Dimension hoping ability.

T&amp;I had fun with him. Until they found out _who_ he really was. Then everyone was depressed for a while contamined by Minato and Kakashi's twin set of murky clouds and excessive brooding.

By the time _Obito_ was finally put out of his misery, Minato's new administration had their work cut out for them. From a puppet Kage in Mist to a criminal mafia in Ame. Jiraiya was particularly interested in _that_ one, and it didn't take long for him to come back to Konoha followed by two newcomers.

Kushina found in one of them a distant cousin when Nagato revealed his surname. He and Konan had to return to Ame, but they promised to keep in touch.

With Koyoko having fun corrupting the younger generation, it was a wonder Konoha still stood.

As life wont to do, it went on.

**XxxXxxX**

The END! :D  
An idea I've had in mind for a while… thoughts?


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